Summary
In this avant-garde collision of Gallic wit and expressionist dread, Max—the quintessential dandy of the silent era—finds his legendary sangfroid tested by a dare of spectral proportions. Having accepted a high-stakes wager to survive sixty minutes within the cavernous, shadow-choked confines of a supposedly haunted chateau, Max navigates a gauntlet of surrealist apparitions that blur the boundary between psychological collapse and genuine supernatural intrusion. The film, a rare collaboration between the comedic genius Max Linder and the visionary director Abel Gance, transforms a simple 'old dark house' premise into a phantasmagoric exploration of kinetic editing and distorted optics. As the clock ticks toward midnight, the protagonist's bravado dissolves into a frantic ballet of terror, culminating in a cruel irony where a mundane telephonic interruption proves more devastating than the ghosts themselves. It is a work that oscillates violently between the slapstick and the macabre, serving as a visceral precursor to the psychological horror genre.
Synopsis
Max accepts a wager that he cannot remain in a haunted castle for one hour (11 PM to midnight) without crying for help. As soon as he arrives he encounters strange and nightmarish visions, but he is nevertheless on the verge of winning the bet when a phone-call brings startling news . . .
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